Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Puss in Boots

Puss in Boots & Robinson Crusoe on Mars Tonight

Swashbuckling cats and monkeys on Mars!

You’ll be able to marvel at both this evening, on another Classic Ross Amico double-feature.

First, Antonio Banderas sends-up his Zorro persona in “Puss in Boots.” We’ll enjoy music from the film, composed by Henry Jackman, alongside selections from James Horner’s score for “The Mask of Zorro.” The balance of the hour will be devoted to Alfred Newman’s music for the Tyrone Power vehicle “Captain from Castile” and Max Steiner’s score for the Errol Flynn classic, “The Adventures of Don Juan.” Gen-Xers may recognize some of the latter from its use in “The Goonies!” Enjoy it this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Then Roy Bjellquist and I will talk ourselves red-in-the-face about the Red Planet, and “Robinson Crusoe on Mars.” Paul Mantee (who took his stage name from Humphrey Bogart’s Duke Mantee), Victor Lundin (who abandoned an operatic career to become a film actor), and Adam West (soon to be TV’s Batman) test their mettle on a foreign world. But that’s okay, since apparently there’s food and oxygen. As the poster states: “This film is SCIENTIFICALLY AUTHENTIC… It’s only one step ahead of present reality!”

FUN FACT: Barney the Woolly Monkey was outfitted with a fur diaper so that he could effectively play female space simian Mona.

Join us for the Facebook live-stream, and be prepared to exchange comments, at Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, tonight at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

August 28, 2020
Montsalvatge’s Puss in Boots Opera Highlights

You can tune an orchestra, but you can’t tun-a fish.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we put the “cat” in Catalan music with selections from Xavier Montsalvatge’s one-act opera “Puss in Boots.”

“Puss in Boots,” Montsalvatge’s first opera, was composed in 1947. We all know the story. The tale, in its best-known guise, was published by Charles Perrault in 1695 as one of the “Tales of Mother Goose.”

A poor miller laments his inheritance. Most of the family property – the mill and the mules – goes to his elder brothers, and all that’s left for him is an unprepossessing cat. He wonders of what use to him a cat could possibly be. He contemplates eating it, perhaps using the skin to make a hat. The cat, however, promptly endears himself, and offers to gain his master a fortune, a kingdom, and the hand of a beautiful princess. All he asks in exchange is a pair of boots, to spare his feet, a stylish hat with a plume, a cape, and a sword fashioned out of bone.

Since the cat presents him with a ring from the hand of the princess, the Miller considers it a fair deal, and sets about getting, by hook or by crook, whatever the cat desires.

Throughout the course of the story, with his cunning and superior wits, the cat is able to deliver on everything he promises.

We’ll heard selections from a 2004 recording on the Columna Musica label, with Argentine mezzo-soprano Marisa Martins as Puss (an unusual take on the traditional “trouser role”) and tenor Antonio Comas as the Miller. The Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu is conducted by Antoni Ros Marba.

Listen for charming cat-like touches in the strings and the use of piano throughout to emulate the decorative style of 18th century recitative.

That’s “Fur Love and Valor” – highlights from Xavier Montsalvatge’s “Puss in Boots” – this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

April 19, 2020
Montsalvatge’s Puss in Boots Opera

You can tune an orchestra, but you can’t tun-a fish. This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we put the “cat” in Catalan music with selections from Xavier Montsalvatge’s one-act opera “Puss in Boots.”

“Puss in Boots,” Montsalvatge’s first opera, was composed in 1947. We all know the story. The tale, in its best-known guise, was published by Charles Perrault in 1695 as one of the “Tales of Mother Goose.”

A poor miller laments his inheritance. Most of the family property – the mill and the mules – goes to his elder brothers, and all that’s left for him is an unprepossessing cat. He wonders of what use to him a cat could possibly be. He contemplates eating it, perhaps using the skin to make a hat. The cat, however, promptly endears himself, and offers to gain his master a fortune, a kingdom, and the hand of a beautiful princess. All he asks in exchange is a pair of boots, to spare his feet, a stylish hat with a plume, a cape, and a sword fashioned out of bone.

Since the cat presents him with a ring from the hand of the princess, the Miller considers it a fair deal, and sets about getting, by hook or by crook, whatever the cat desires.

Throughout the course of the story, with his cunning and superior wits, the cat is able to deliver on everything he promises.

We’ll heard selections from a 2004 recording, on the Columna Musica label, with Argentine mezzo-soprano Marisa Martins as Puss (an unusual take on the traditional “trouser role”), and tenor Antonio Comas as the Miller. The Symphony Orchestra of the Gran Teatre del Liceu is conducted by Antoni Ros Marba.

Listen for the charming cat-like touches in the string-writing and the use of a piano throughout the opera to evoke the style of decorative 18th century recitative.

That’s “Fur Love and Valor” – highlights from Xavier Montsalvatge’s “Puss in Boots” – this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

November 19, 2017

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